When You Can't Agree Play Garbage

If you have ever gathered a large group of people together, chances are that you had some disagreement about what type of game everyone wants to play.  Someone will advocate for poker and want to put up some pennies to make the game more interesting.  Someone else feels that other games would be much more enjoyable. If only there was some way to combine all the games into one so everyone would be happy!

Actually, there is.  Americans refer to this game as “Garbage.”  It is a game that has a series of rounds, much like the game of Hand ‘n Foot, but each round is a different style of game play.  The first round features poker style of play, with the best poker hand winning the round.  The second round switches the play up to bingo, with the dealer drawing cards from the undealt stack and calling them out as a means of determining who has the bingo hand.  The third round is a game called “Put and Take,” which involves the dealer drawing cards from the stack and players with those cards in their hand placing a penny into the pot.  The fourth round is called “Count Up” where as the dealer turns fresh cards over while he or she counts.  If the rank the dealer counts is the same as the card that is being flipped over, the other players must pay the dealer a penny.  The stakes in this game are merely for fun, being only pennies similar to Penny Ante Poker games.  The catch of this game is that the players are all dealt 5-card hands that are used throughout each round of play.

Garbage is a game that can include as many as 8 players, so it is great game to play with larger groups.  Especially with larger groups with varying tastes in card play.